Model humanity:
39-545: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Emperor Dongyue (or Dongyue Dadi Chinese : 東嶽大帝 ; lit. 'The Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak';) is a Daoist deity of the sacred mountain Mount Tai . He is also believed to be the leader of a large bureaucratic celestial ministry overseeing
78-544: A Chinese religious tradition characterised by a concern for salvation (moral fulfillment) of the person and the society. They are distinguished by egalitarianism , a founding charismatic person often informed by a divine revelation , a specific theology written in holy texts , a millenarian eschatology and a voluntary path of salvation, an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and self-cultivation, and an expansive orientation through evangelism and philanthropy . Some scholars consider these religions
117-414: A mortar and pestle ; being ground in a mill ; being crushed by boulders; being made to shed blood by climbing trees or mountains of knives; having sharp objects driven into their bodies; having hooks pierced into their bodies and being hung upside down; drowning in a pool of filthy blood; being left naked in the freezing cold; being set aflame or cast into infernos; being tied naked to a bronze cylinder with
156-563: A Confucian identity, with the foundation of the Holy Confucian Church of China which aims to unite in a single body all Confucian religious groups. Many of the movements of salvation of the 20th and 21st century aspire to become the repository of the entirety of the Chinese tradition in the face of Western modernism and materialism, advocating an "Eastern solution to the problems of the modern world", or even interacting with
195-466: A different aspect of atonement and different punishments; most legends claim that sinners are subjected to gruesome tortures until their "deaths", after which they are restored to their original state for the torture to be repeated. According to ideas from Taoism , Buddhism and traditional Chinese folk religion , Diyu is a purgatory that serves to punish and renew spirits in preparation for reincarnation . Many deities, whose names and purposes are
234-681: A more favorable location. The attendees of the ritual include the deceased's family members as well as the Daoist or master of popular religion. There are seven temples dedicated to Dongyue Dadi in Taiwan and throughout the mainland China, with the famous Dongyue Temple located in Tainan City , known for its Da-cheng ritual. The Beijing Dongyue Temple is situated north of Chaoyangmenwai Street in Beijing, covering an area of 60,000 square meters. It
273-499: A mountain god to a Daoist deity as a result of the influence of Daoism and Buddhism. In Daoist belief, the deity of Mount Tai was either an ancient saint or the descendant of Fuxi . The Shen-yi Jing, portrayed this deity as the offspring of a descendant of Pangu who was granted the title Taihua Zhenren . This title was the basis for Dongyue Dadi's development in Daoism and elevated him to the status known as Xian Ren, which placed him in
312-507: A single group they are said to have the same number of followers of the five state-sanctioned religions of China taken together. Scholars and government officials have been discussing to systematise and unify this large base of religious organisations; in 2004 the State Administration of Religious Affairs created a department for the management of folk religions. In the late 2015 a step was made at least for those of them with
351-416: A single phenomenon, and others consider them the fourth great Chinese religious category alongside the well-established Confucianism , Buddhism and Taoism . Generally these religions focus on the worship of the universal God ( Shangdi ), represented as either male, female, or genderless, and regard their holy patriarchs as embodiments of God. "Chinese salvationist religions" ( 救度宗教 jiùdù zōngjiào )
390-555: A vassal state under Shang. He later participates in a campaign by King Wu of the Zhou dynasty to overthrow King Zhou of Shang. He was killed in a battle against Shang general Zhang Kui (張奎). Jiang Ziya posthumously granted him the title of "Dongyue Taishan Tianqi Rensheng Dadi" (東嶽泰山天齊仁聖大帝, leader of the rulers of the Five Sacred Mountains ). The Taoist immortal Bingling Dijun [ zh ] , has been described as
429-507: Is a contemporary neologism coined as a sociological category and gives prominence to folk religious sects' central pursuit that is the salvation of the individual and the society, in other words the moral fulfillment of individuals in reconstructed communities of sense. Chinese scholars traditionally describe them as "folk religious sects" ( 民间宗教 mínjiān zōngjiào , 民间教门 mínjiān jiàomén or 民间教派 mínjiān jiàopài ) or "folk beliefs" ( 民间信仰 mínjiān xìnyǎng ). They are distinct from
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#1732782807158468-640: Is a significant cultural heritage protection site in Beijing. The temple was constructed in 1319 during the Yuan dynasty using funds raised by Zhang Liusun of the Zhengyi Sect (張留孫), a Taoist priest and descendant of Zhang Daoling. Chinese salvationist religions Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Chinese salvationist religions or Chinese folk religious sects are
507-510: Is his only title in Buddhist scriptures. Dongyue Dadi cults lost prominence in the Ming dynasty to those of Bixia Yuanjun. The ritual of the storming of the city (打城) is performed in Taiwan and associated with Dongyue Dadi as the ruler of hell. This ritual involves a ritual specialist, who can either be a Daoist or a master in popular religion, storming the city wall of the underworld to rescue
546-587: Is the realm of the dead or " hell " in Chinese mythology . It is loosely based on a combination of the Buddhist concept of Naraka , traditional Chinese beliefs about the afterlife , and a variety of popular expansions and reinterpretations of these two traditions. The concept parallels purgatory in certain Christian denomininations. Diyu is typically depicted as a subterranean maze with various levels and chambers, to which souls are taken after death to atone for
585-541: The Twenty-Four Devas (二十四諸天 Èrshísì zhūtiān). Every year, on the 28th day of the third lunar month, Dongyue Dadi's birthday is celebrated by devotees from all over the country who gather to burn incense and offer prayers in honor of the deity. Since ancient times, the Mount Tai has been seen as a sacred place where the spirits of the dead gather, so the god of Mount Tai was thought to be the supreme deity of
624-541: The Book of Rites . Some scholars even find influences from Manichaeism , Mohism and shamanic traditions . In the Ming and Qing dynasties many folk religious movements were outlawed by the imperial authorities as "evil religions" ( 邪教 xiéjiào ). With the collapse of the Qing state in 1911 the sects enjoyed an unprecedented period of freedom and thrived, and many of them were officially recognised as religious groups by
663-457: The Chinese folk religion consisting in the worship of gods and ancestors, although in English language there is a terminological confusion between the two. The 20th-century expression for these salvationist religious movements has been "redemptive societies" ( 救世团体 jiùshì tuántǐ ), coined by scholar Prasenjit Duara . A collective name that has been in use possibly since the latter part of
702-484: The early republican government . The founding of the People's Republic in 1949 saw them suppressed once again, although since the 1990s and 2000s the climate was relaxed and some of them have received some form of official recognition. In Taiwan all the still existing restrictions were rescinded in the 1980s. Folk religious movements began to rapidly revive in mainland China in the 1980s, and now if conceptualised as
741-533: The Qing dynasty is huìdàomén ( 会道门 "churches, ways and gates"), as their names interchangeably use the terms huì ( 会 "church, society, association, congregation"; when referring to their corporate form), dào ( 道 "way") or mén ( 门 "gate[way], door"). Their congregations and points of worship are usually called táng ( 堂 "church, hall") or tán ( 坛 "altar"). Western scholars often mistakenly identify them as " Protestant " churches. The Vietnamese religions of Minh Đạo and Caodaism emerged from
780-535: The Under-World , say that new hells with new punishments are created as the world changes and that there is a City of Innocent Deaths ( 枉死城 ) designed to house those who died with grievances that have yet to be redressed. Other terminology related to Diyu includes: The concept of the "Ten Courts of Yanluo " ( 十 殿 閻 羅 ) began after Chinese folk religion was influenced by Buddhism. In this variation of Chinese mythology, there are 12,800 hells located under
819-531: The decision of a different judge. The "Ten Courts of Yanluo" is also known as the Ten Courts of Yanwang ( 十殿阎王 ), Ten Lords of Minggong ( 冥宫十王 ), Ten Courts of Yan-jun ( 十殿阎君 ), Ten-Lords of Difu ( 地府十王 ), and Ten-Lords of Mingfu ( 冥府十王 ). The concept of the eighteen hells started in the Tang dynasty . The Buddhist text Sutra on Questions about Hell ( 問地獄經 ) mentioned 134 worlds of hell, but
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#1732782807158858-490: The earth – eight dark hells, eight cold hells and 84,000 miscellaneous hells located at the edge of the universe. All will go to Diyu after death but the period of time one spends in Diyu is not forever – it depends on the severity of the sins one committed. After receiving due punishment, one will eventually be sent for reincarnation . Diyu is divided into ten courts, each overseen by a Yanwang. Souls pass from stage to stage at
897-570: The hierarchy of Daoist immortals. According to The Collection of Gods in Three Religions [ zh ] (三教搜神大全), Dongyue Dadi was born as Jinhong, the son of Miao descendant Jinlun Wang Shaohai (who was the ninth generation of Pangu) and his wife Milun Xianǚ (彌綸仙女). Jinhong performed meritorious service in Changbai Mountain and was later granted the title of Tai Sui by Fuxi's family. In Chinese Buddhism, Dongyue Dadi
936-605: The label "secret sects" ( 秘密教门 mìmì jiàomén ) to distinguish the peasant "secret societies" with a positive dimension of the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, from the negatively viewed "secret societies" of the early republic that became instruments of anti-revolutionary forces (the Guomindang or Japan ). Many of these religions are traced to the White Lotus tradition ("Chinese Maternism", as mentioned by Philip Clart ) that
975-667: The maintenance of the Book of Life (生死簿), a register of the due dates on which each and every human soul must be summoned before the Judges of Hell for judgement. Dongyue Dadi is also considered significant in Chinese Buddhism . He is the personification of Cangdi as the "Great Deity of the Eastern Peak" ( 东岳大帝 ), which is Mount Tai . As the incarnation of Mount Tai, he is the holy messenger of communication between heaven and
1014-506: The modern discourse of an Asian -centered universal civilisation. The Chinese folk religious movements of salvation are mostly concentrated in northern and northeastern China, although with a significant influence reaching the Yangtze River Delta since the 16th century. The northern provinces have been a fertile ground for the movements of salvation for a number of reasons: firstly, popular religious movements were active in
1053-549: The population of China, which is around 30 million people, claim to be members of folk religious sects. The actual number of followers may be higher, about the same as the number of members of the five state-sanctioned religions of China if counted together. In Taiwan, recognised folk religious movements of salvation gather approximately 10% of the population as of the mid-2000s. Diyu Diyu ( traditional Chinese : 地獄 ; simplified Chinese : 地狱 ; pinyin : dìyù ; lit. 'earth prison')
1092-552: The region already in the Han dynasty , and they deeply penetrated local society; secondly, northern provinces are characterised by social mobility around the capital and weak traditional social structure, thus folk religious movements of salvation fulfill the demand of individual searching for new forms of community and social network. According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2012, approximately 2.2% of
1131-494: The same tradition of Chinese folk religious movements. A category overlapping with that of the salvationist movements is that of the "secret societies" ( 秘密社会 mìmì shèhuì , or 秘密结社 mìmì jiéshè ), religious communities of initiatory and secretive character, including rural militias and fraternal organisations which became very popular in the early republican period, and often labeled as " heretical doctrines" ( 宗教异端 zōngjiào yìduān ). Recent scholarship has begun to use
1170-464: The sins they committed when they were alive. The exact number of levels in Diyu and their associated deities differ between Buddhist and Taoist interpretations. Some speak of three to four "courts"; others mention "Ten Courts of Hell", each of which is ruled by a judge (collectively known as the Ten Yama Kings); other Chinese legends speak of the "Eighteen Levels of Hell". Each court deals with
1209-415: The soul of a deceased individual. The ritual consists of ten distinct stages, which include inviting Dongyue Dadi, summoning the soul of the deceased, confessing the soul's sins, beginning the journey to leave the underworld, practicing divination, departing from the underworld, administering medicine to the soul, offering a bowl of rice, guiding the soul across the bridge, and enabling the soul to be reborn in
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1248-478: The subject of conflicting accounts, are associated with Diyu. Some early Chinese societies speak of people going to Mount Tai , Jiuyuan, Jiuquan or Fengdu after death. At present, Fengdu and the temples on Mount Tai have been rebuilt into tourist attractions, incorporating artistic depictions of hell and the afterlife. Some Chinese folk religion planchette writings , such as the Taiwanese novel Journeys to
1287-580: The third son of Dongyue Dadi. Han dynasty emperors performed the Feng Shan ceremony on Mount Tai . The ceremony was considered very important and completing Feng Shan allowed the emperor to receive the mandate of heaven . The practice began in 219 BC, when the Yellow Emperor gave homage to the mountain after he unified China. Under the Eastern Han dynasty, Dongyue Dadi transformed from
1326-400: The tortures listed below. They cannot "die" from the torture because when the ordeal is over, their bodies will be restored to their original states for the torture to be repeated. The eighteen hells vary from narrative to narrative but some commonly mentioned tortures include: being steamed; being fried in oil cauldrons; being sawed into half; being run over by vehicles; being pounded in
1365-677: The underworld, who governed the lifespan and status of humans. He was reportedly the grandson of the Jade Emperor . In the Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi), Dongyue Dadi is portrayed as Huang Feihu , a general who served under King Zhou of Shang . Huang Feihu was originally known as Prince Wucheng (武成王) of the Shang dynasty . He defected to Xiqi (西岐; precursor to the Zhou dynasty ),
1404-525: The world, and the patron saint of the emperors of all dynasties who was ordered by the sky to govern the world. According to Chinese mythology, Dongyue Dadi is believed to be either the father or the husband of Bixia Yuanjun , who is a goddess associated with Mount Tai and childbirth. He is regarded as one of the Sixteen Devas (十六諸天 Shíliù Zhūtiān), the Twenty Devas (二十諸天 Èrshí Zhūtiān) and
1443-459: Was already active in the Song dynasty ; others claim a Taoist legacy and are based on the recovery of ancient scriptures attributed to important immortals such as Lü Dongbin and Zhang Sanfeng , and have contributed to the popularisation of neidan ; other ones are distinctively Confucian and advocate the realisation of a "great commonwealth" ( datong 大同 ) on a world scale, as dreamt of in
1482-651: Was believed to serve as the judge of the Underworld. This perception emerged during the Six Dynasty period, and the deity's title in Buddhist scriptures was Taishan Fujun , which was subsequently assimilated into the concept of the Buddhist Hell, Diyu . Consequently, Taishan Fujun was regarded as one of the ten kings of hell or even as a prince of the seventh king of hell. He is referred to as Dongyue Dadi in Daoism and Chinese folk religion, while Taishan Fujun
1521-607: Was simplified to the Eighteen Levels of Hell in the Sutra on the Eighteen Hells ( 十八泥犁經 ) for convenience. Some literature refers to eighteen types of hells or to eighteen hells for each type of punishment. Some religious or literature books say that wrongdoers who were not punished when they were alive are punished in the hells after death. Sinners feel pain and agony just like living humans when they are subjected to
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